Full steam ahead for Dogger Bank

I am pleased to inform you that the first consent for offshore wind energy at Dogger Bank in the North Sea was granted by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change this week – making it the largest renewable energy development ever to receive planning consent in the UK.

The consent for Dogger Bank Creyke Beck is the result of more than four years of comprehensive assessments, stakeholder consultation and planning by the Forewind team.

Dogger Bank Creyke Beck has a total generating capacity of 2.4GW and comprises two separate 1.2GW offshore wind farms, each with up to 200 turbines and located 131 kilometres from the UK coast. They will both connect into the existing Creyke Beck substation near Cottingham, in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

When constructed, Dogger Bank Creyke Beck will be capable of generating 8 terrawatt hours (TWh) of green energy per annum, equal to the amount used annually by approximately 1.8 million British homes.

Dogger Bank Creyke Beck could create up to 4750 new direct and indirect full time equivalent jobs and generate more than £1.5 billion for the UK economy, with the majority of opportunities in the North East and Yorkshire and the Humber regions.

This is particularly due to the regions’ proximity to the development as well as their historic strengths, existing skills in large-scale production activities and a marine support legacy.

An operator will be appointed for each wind farm and it will be their role to progress the projects through the next phase, pre-construction. Once the operators are in place, you will receive further correspondence with key contact details and anticipated timescales.

Until that time I would welcome any queries and would like to reiterate how exciting it is to be able to confirm to you that Dogger Bank Creyke Beck has been awarded development consent.